


A Lion's Pride

by AeantizLKamenwati



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Awkward Family, F/M, Meeting the in-laws, Post-Trespasser
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-07
Updated: 2015-10-07
Packaged: 2018-04-25 08:49:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4953997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AeantizLKamenwati/pseuds/AeantizLKamenwati
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Atheral has faced down a would-be god, and two actual gods, yet she's far more nervous now. Why?</p>
<p>Two words: in laws.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Lion's Pride

**Author's Note:**

> For my beautiful friend who is having a crappy time, here is some nonsense.
> 
> Basically there's a reason why I don't do Cullen romance fics...I suck at them like where is the romance? I don't know man, but they are husband and wife...
> 
> Also I apologize ahead of time for typos, my fingertips are burnt and I wrote a lot of this while sleep deprived.

Atheral mumbled yet another prayer to the Creators. Her hand tensed on the reins of her Greater Frostback “Elk” (it made her cringe each time someone referred to the hart as an elk). The hart snorted as it sensed it, as though saying ‘calm down woman’. Like that was even remotely possible. 

She was nervous. Mythal’enaste was she nervous. She thought she’d be prepared after Halamshiral. Yet she’d take having to dance with assassins, liars, and other gaudily dressed humans over this. This was nerve wracking. 

Which, of course, was ridiculous. She had faced Corypheus armed with only a glowing mark that then tried to kill her. She faced Qunari, Carta, and ten dragons. She walked physically in the Fade. Twice. And fought a giant fear demon. She fought and killed an Avvar god-dragon. She faced down one of her own gods who she called a friend, had him take her mark (and her forearm) and didn’t even bat an eyelash. She shouldn’t be nervous! 

Yet she was. 

Atheral took a deep breath and shifted in her saddle a tad. Normally she would never use a saddle on a hart, but the ride from Skyhold to South Reach was a long one and Cullen had insisted she use one. 

She looked around with her golden eyes. She had never been to this part of Ferelden. She had never been to a lot of places that suddenly she could go to. Some places she had to go to. Being Divine Victoria’s honor guard meant she got dragged along to a lot places. But this time the only person dragging her was Cullen. 

Not that he had to drag her of course. She was glad for this little vacation. Taeris was too. Of course her son was always glad to do anything. He kept rambling about how he wanted to see his Mamae take down a dragon for most of the trip off the mountain. That she had one arm didn’t matter. His Mamae was the Inquisitor; she fought gods and dragons and she could do it again. 

She lightly chuckled to herself at the memory. She glanced to her right at the eight year old. He sat in front of Cullen looking around him as the Commander pointed little things out to him. His bright smile was infectious. Sun played in his sandy colored hair…that she needed to cut soon…not that hers was much better. 

“Huh…” She muttered as those thoughts drifted along her mind. It suddenly struck her that for the first time in her life she had next to no obligations. She didn’t have to look after the Clan while Keeper Deshanna tended to other things. She had no lessons to learn stuffed in the Keeper’s aravel away from distractions. Sure there was an ancient elven god hellbent on destroying this world and angry nobles grumbling about the Inquisition technically being an independent entity still. But aside from going to lord-so-and-so’s soiree here and duke-what’s-his-name’s ball there and gathering allies that weren’t Fen’Harel’s agents, Atheral didn’t have much to do. 

“What is it?” Cullen asked as he noted her face looking puzzled. She blinked like he pulled her from thought. 

“I just now realized I have a lot to do.” She muttered. Not again. 

“You do realize you are supposed to be taking a break, right?” 

“Yes, yes. And you’ve already foiled all my attempts at squirming out of this, but that’s not what I meant.” She rolled her eyes at him. She let go of her reins briefly to tuck a sandy wave back behind her ears. 

“Oh so this isn’t your one of your terrible excuses?” Cullen scoffed. Atheral’s ears flared back as her eyes narrowed at him. Her delicate elven nose scrunched up, mashing the freckles that danced over her cheekbones and bridge together. He chuckled at her. It wasn’t an action he did often, making her expression soften. 

“No it isn’t. I was just thinking I need to cut Taeris’s hair, and mend some of his clothes…perhaps start carving my staff again…and the garden is looking a bit drab back a Skyhold…” Atheral rambled off her list of things. 

It was Cullen’s turn to look puzzled. Her list was so…tame. In the years he had known her, she was wild, a bit brash, and stubborn. She was the lioness of Skyhold; his lioness was liable to challenge anyone to a duel who crossed her, and as fiercely protective of her friends as she was of her cub. 

Yet here she was, in her Keeper robes talking about mending clothes. 

“What?” She furrowed her eyebrows at him, “Stop looking at me like that, vhenin.” 

“You aren’t going tame on me now, are you?” He teased. She barked a laugh. 

“As though anyone could tame me!” She chuckled. “No, I just now have breathing room, time to do small things.” 

“None of which involve learning how to cook?” 

“Exactly.” She gave him that smile, the one that stopped his heart and mind. One he would give anything to see again and again. 

“Mamae knows how to cook.” Taeris piped in. Both of them looked down at him. 

“With larvae.” Cullen grumbled with his face screwed up at the memory. He’d never make the mistake of letting her cook for him again. 

Atheral snorted, “Shemlen.” She looked in front of her. She saw the small village they were heading towards and stopped her hart. Her nerves fluttered in her stomach again. Smoke curled from many of the chimneys as twilight began to descend. They’d reach it before nightfall and she wasn’t sure she wanted to. 

On one hand she was happy to finally meet this Mia, who had now constantly been writing her. Mostly she asked after her brother, saying he was always insufferably vague, and she wanted gossip. It was odd for her to think that she was writing her new sister. She never had a sister, only three rambunctious, protective, and occasionally insufferable brothers. Yet suddenly she had two. 

And that was where her nerves came in. She was meeting them for the very first time. Tradition of her Clan was that one meets their partner’s parents before they even kiss, most certainly before they marry. She didn’t even know if his parents approved of her. She was an elf, a Dalish elf specifically, and a mage and Inquisitor-not-Herald-of-Andraste…And she was a widow prior with a child. Not exactly a prize catch in many humans’ eyes. 

She sighed loudly. She ran through every scenario she could think of, and none of them ended well. Cullen had warned that Mia had been feeding his other siblings information about them, but that he didn’t think she told them she was Dalish. And old habits died hard. She kept thinking of the glares and snide looks she got back in the Winter Palace and every shemlen city she had ever went to before the Inquisition. 

“Mamae, you coming?” Taeris broke her thoughts. She blinked seeing her two men turning to look back at her. Taeris seemed to be excited beyond belief, eyes glittering. Cullen had that concerned look on his face. 

_Come on, Era. You faced down a Nightmare monster and three gods. You can face five humans…_ she chastised herself. She was the bloody lioness of Skyhold. Atheral took in a deep breath and straightened in her saddle. She brushed her fingers along the red band that tied around her left bicep. It hid the band of sylvanwood that in a battle she could make into a hand with her Keeper magic. 

She smiled. She had trekked for several weeks through the Wending Woods in search of an ancient sylvan. Everyone had told her to relax and take it easy while her arm healed. Like hell she was going to sit idly by and be coddled, not when the bloody Dread Wolf was plotting to kill everything she had bled to save. 

Sure the first two weeks she had been depressed. She worried she couldn’t cast magic anymore, couldn’t fight. She didn’t talk to anyone, just watched everyone carry on their lives while she just felt stuck. Cullen had been patient, weathering her moods with a grace no man should have to possess. He held her while she cried, he held her when she yelled. Then there was little Taeris. He didn’t understand a lot of it, but her little cub stepped up. He made her flower crowns, braided her hair, and insisted she come out and play with him and Recruit. 

Seeing how everyone did so much for her, trying to help her, had kicked her out of her slump. She poured over maps, sent countless letters to any Clan she could think of, trying to find her prey. The Hero of Ferelden had been the one to say he had fought sylvans in the Wending Woods ten years prior. She gathered her armor and her staff and took a team there. 

Dagna had been the one to figure out how to successfully work the wood. Given Atheral’s Keeper magic, it was easy to make the silvery wood grow into an arm and armor. She had taken back what was stolen from her. She was strong, stubborn, and she could face her in-laws. 

She kicked her hart forward, head held high. Cullen set his horse next to her as they descended into the valley, a smile on his face as she looked like she was going to war. 

***** 

Atheral’s ears twitched like they always did when she felt people staring. Cullen had to bite back his chuckle. She could school her face, but her elven ears? Oh no. That was like asking the sun to stop shining. 

He glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. Her back was stiff straight, eyes staring straight ahead like if she ignored everyone, they’d ignore her. As though that was possible. She was far too beautiful to ignore. Of course that was his reason, everyone else probably never seen a Dalish or a Hart before. He was glad he had talked her out of riding her Mountain Dracolisk or another of her odd herd she had collected. 

Just as he was glad she had talked him out of having Inquisition soldiers accompany them. He now shuddered to think of the fiasco that might have caused. They drew enough attention as it was. 

Thankfully it wasn’t long before they drew the attention to the person they were to meet. Mia stood in the doorway of her modest house, shielding her eyes against the sunset. She looked to see what was drawing such a fuss as if she didn’t already know. It was hard to miss a large black and white hart riding through town. 

She couldn’t help the smile that broke her face as she waved at them. Cullen took notice of her first, raising one hand in greeting. Mia frowned. Apparently the vagueness extended passed letters. She watched as the two riders stopped their mounts and dismounted. And took notice of a third party, a little third party that clung to his mother’s neck as she helped him down from the horse. 

Then the trio turned to her and Mia got to see her fabled sister-in-law for the first time. She didn’t think she’d be so…intimidating. You heard stories of course. How she tamed a dragon or how she basically yelled the Exalted Council into submission. But to see the woman in the flesh was an entirely different experience. 

She was a small, petite elven woman who barely reached Cullen’s chest. And was made from pure gold it seemed what with gold eyes, tan skin, and sandy colored hair she tied back. Well not everything was gold, Mia noted as she got closer. The Dalish tattoo was a striking lavender color. 

“Brother!” Mia called out, getting her smile back. The elf looked at her warily, gold eyes of a predator watching as she stepped out of her doorway. Cullen had mentioned Atheral did not particularly like villages of any size. And seeing as the Chantry Templars eyed her suspiciously, Mia could not blame her. 

“Sister,” Cullen gave a small smile as Mia ran up and hugged him. “It is good to see you.” 

“Well I’d hope so,” She huffed as she drew back, “Not one visit before all this and now you’re bringing home your wife.” Her voice was teasing as she turned to said woman. Atheral looked between the two as though trying to figure out which was the threat. Her little boy, a spitting image of his mother, clung to the skirt of her armor behind one of her legs. “So this is the famous Inquisitor we’ve been hearing about?” Mia tried her best to not be intimidating. 

“Ah,” Cullen cleared his throat. Maker’s breath he was terrible at these things. “This is Inquisitor Atheral of Clan Lavellan. Era, this is my older sister Mia.” 

Atheral looked up at him while he introduced them before looking back at the taller human woman. “Andran’atishan, lethallan. Pleasure to meet the other woman who always beats Cullen at chess.” 

Mia laughed loudly as Cullen glared down at his little wife. She had that wicked smirk on her face that said she enjoyed toying with him. But he would think something was wrong if she didn’t, or if she greeted Mia with a simple hello. He wasn’t exactly an expert on elvish, but he understood enough to know the word lethallan was a good sign. 

“So he hasn’t gotten much better I take it?” Mia teased with her own challenging grin. 

“Sometimes he’s a challenge. The man is a brutal tactician.” Atheral nudged him in the side before returning her hand to playing with her son’s hair. 

“And who is this handsome young fellow?” Mia asked as she smiled at the boy who seemed content to try hiding behind his mother despite being up to her chest. 

“My son, Taeris. Taeris…” She nodded her head towards Mia when he looked up at her. 

“Aneth ara, Mia.” Taeris mumbled quietly, more to Atheral’s abdomen than anything else. 

“Nice to meet you, Taeris.” Mia smiled gently before putting her hands on her hips. “Well, come on, everyone’s dying to meet you and you must be tired.” She motioned towards her house. “You can tether your mounts round—“ 

“That’s fine.” Atheral interrupted. She rounded her mount and began unhooking her saddle and reins, leaving only the bridle. Lacking two arms made it hard to pick the leather saddle up, so she let it fall to the ground once she got it clear of her mount’s back. The hart snorted, shaking himself all over before happily trotting off to graze. 

“What are you…” Mia asked. 

“He’ll come when I need him.” She stated calmly. Cullen just sighed as though this was entirely normal. Instead he bent down to help her gather the saddle. He knew better than to try and carry it for her; she hated being coddled almost as much as she hated feeling inferior. 

Mia looked back and forth between the two. This evening was going to be interesting at least. 

***** 

Cullen hazarded a glance back at Atheral. While conversation was flowing around him, she seemed to keep getting stuck in awkward silences. For once their roles reversed and that made him chuckle. She looked around in yet another awkward silence, ears twitching at each little sound. 

Taeris on the other hand was chatting endlessly with Rosalie, telling her all about the one time he managed to toss a flower crown around one of Bull’s horns. His younger sister looked over at Cullen with a questioning look to which he could only shrug. The boy was his mother’s son, able to make a flower crown, shoot an arrow through it and then snatch the crown before it hit the ground. 

“So Atheral is…pretty…” Cullen’s mother started as she cut vegetables with Mia. As side from the initial shock of seeing her vallaslin and the child next to her, his family hadn’t made him want to run for the hills yet. Though the night was still young… 

He smiled as he looked back into the front room where Branson, Branson’s wife, and their father tried to coax Atheral into talking about something. Something all of them could understand. And not make it awkward or at least more awkward… 

He couldn’t see her face, just the back of her head, but her ears kept flaring back, like she was trying to listen to the kitchen. Or she was trying not to be offended. That was the big thing really. Everyone was tiptoeing around each other. Atheral could handle “shemlen culture”, but his family knew next to nothing about Dalish culture. 

He rubbed the back of his neck. Thankfully they just had to make it through one night and one day. 

“Cullen, are you even listening?” His mother chastised. 

“Hmm, I’m sorry, Mother. What were you saying?” He blinked. Mia smirked like a cat with cream. 

“I said make yourself useful and get me that pot please.” She pointed to a large black pot above him. When he handed it to her she shook her head. “The way you stare you’d think you two had just met.” 

“Oh leave him be, Mother. He’s just hopelessly in love.” Mia chuckled. The elf had him completely enraptured as though he was going to die if she left his sight. Well that was a little dramatic, but she did have him completely at her mercy. 

Their mother laughed before leaning back to look at her new daughter-in-law. She sat with her back stock straight as though coiled to run. Occasionally she would rub at the red tie around her left bicep, but otherwise the only thing that moved was her ears. 

“Timid little thing though.” She chuckled as she turned back to preparing dinner. 

Cullen chuckled. “That’s not the word I’d use to describe her…” Indeed, Atheral was only quiet because this wasn’t like an Orlesian party or battle. She was used to those. A smile here and a dance there and everyone ignores her or asks her to recount her many battles. This she actually had to try and make people like her. Her her, not Inquisitor her. It was like being thrown into a new Clan again… 

Well that and she was eavesdropping on Cullen. From experience she knew mother-in-laws were the hardest to win over and the most crucial. No one could ruin a relationship faster than a mother…or a secret lover…which thankfully she doubted she had to worry about that. 

Atheral blinked as Branson handed her a cup. “Oh, uh, ma serannas…” she muttered quickly. She internally winced as she once again spoke elvish. She hid it by taking the cup and taking a drink. Ferelden ale assaulted her tongue. She welcomed the distraction and the ready excuse about her face turning red. 

Cullen’s mother did apparently not know how sensitive elven ears were…So far she had asked about Taeris, where his father was, if this was going to cause some kind of scandal with the Dalish people, if Cullen was going to adopt Taeris, and other questions that should have been fielded to _**her not Cullen**_. Sylaise’enaste she hated in-laws. 

She just wanted to say: “yes hi I’m your new Dalish daughter-in-law who happens to have a son from a previous marriage and does not worship your bloody Maker. If it helps I’m also leader of the Inquisition and an apostate with a short temper. If we could now please skip the awkward ‘how’s the weather because I absolutely don’t know what to talk about with you banter’ and the meddling/prying banter, I’d appreciate that.” 

Honestly were all shemlen this shy? When she met her new mother-in-law with her first husband, the woman narrowed her eyes and they had a glaring match for three full minutes of nothing but silence, trying to make the other woman back down. 

They exchanged only brief acknowledgements of Tairon speaking uneasily while he watched the two. Then came the typical in-law questions: are you a good hunter? “I’m from Clan Viirion of course I’m a brilliant hunter.” Can you tend to wounds? “Asha, I’ve been my Keeper’s apprentice since I was eight, what do you think?” 

And other little barbs like that, trying to find a chink in the armor. After that, they had laughed and got along just fine. 

Cullen’s family? They tiptoed, trying to find some conversation that they thought would be safe ground. Forgetting that she was a warrior, a battle mage, she could drink like a Qunari and curse like a dwarf. She had rubbed elbows with the world’s finest and crossed staff with its worst. All she asked was two things: no one ask her about Andraste or the Maker (it still confused the hell out of her) and no one ask her about children. 

Just as Atheral sighed and started to take another sip, her ears twitched back at the good-natured woman’s voice. “So can I be expecting any grandchildren soon?” Atheral’s ear tips pinned down like they did when she was startled. She choked on her ale and started coughing. 

Branson’s wife started patting her back as she tried to get air back in her lungs. Mythal preserve her, this little break was going to kill her wasn’t it?

**Author's Note:**

> Might do more with Atheral, idk. There might be a second chapter that involves a bandit raid, but right now we are going to say this is finished...


End file.
